Total bridges
9
Public highway bridges in Lancaster County
County profile · official public datasets
Lancaster County, VA
9 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.2% rated Good, 66.7% Fair, 11.1% Poor.
- 9
- Public bridges
- 22.2%
- Good condition
- 11.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Lancaster County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 117th
- of 129 on Poor share
- 11.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 9
- public highway bridges
- 1959
- avg year built
Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.
Lancaster County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lancaster County ranks #117 of 129 Virginia counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.1%). Lancaster County, Virginia contains 9 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.2% are rated “Good,” 66.7% “Fair,” and 11.1% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.
Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.
Good condition
22.2%
2 of 9 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.7%
6 of 9 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.1%
1 of 9 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#117 of 129
Among Virginia counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 9 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 22.2% (2)
Fair 66.7% (6)
Poor 11.1% (1)
Lancaster County's Poor-condition bridges carry 585 vehicle crossings a day
That is 2.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 585 crossings a day against 3,165 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.
Computed over the 9 of 9 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
77.8% of Lancaster County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
7 of the 9 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 22.2% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.
Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
One structure carries 100% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
WINDMILL POINT RD. over OYSTER CREEK, built 1930, carries 585 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 1-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 585 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Lancaster County's bridges were built
9 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1960s 1
1960–1969
1 bridges
- 1970s 1
1970–1979
1 bridges
- 2000s 1
2000–2009
1 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 5 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 55.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1959, 15 years older than the Virginia average of 1974.
How Lancaster County compares with Virginia's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Virginia counties nearest Lancaster County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.1% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 11 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 128 Virginia counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Martinsville city County | 10 | 40% | 60% | 0% | 1976 |
| Middlesex County | 10 | 30% | 60% | 10% | 1970 |
| Colonial Heights city County | 9 | 0% | 88.9% | 11.1% | 1986 |
| Lancaster County (this page) | 9 | 22.2% | 66.7% | 11.1% | 1959 |
| Covington city County | 8 | 37.5% | 50% | 12.5% | 1962 |
| Lexington city County | 8 | 25% | 62.5% | 12.5% | 1956 |
Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Lancaster County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
All bridges (9)
REGINA RD.
FairOver: CABIN SWAMP
0.7M RTE3-1.4MRTE616, Lancaster, VA
Built 1973 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 161
KAMPS MILL RD.
FairOver: LANCASTR ROLLNG MILL PND
0.2M KILMAR. -0.4M RTE3, Lancaster, VA
Built 1937 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 89
HISTORY LAND HWY.
FairOver: CHINNS MILL POND
0.1M LANCAS.-14.4M RTE360, Lancaster, VA
Built 1937 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,795
MARY BALL RD.
FairOver: W BR CORROTOMAN RIVER
7.2M KILMARNK-2.2M RTE201, Lancaster, VA
Built 1939 Load: 37.8 t ADT: 6,092
LARA RD.
FairOver: MCMAHONS SWAMP
0.6M RTE201-1.5M RTE617, Lancaster, VA
Built 2001 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 466
IRVINGTON ROAD
FairOver: CARTERS CREEK
1.1M RTE3- 2.9M RTE222, Lancaster, VA
Built 1966 Load: 43.7 t ADT: 7,021
MARY BALL RD.
GoodOver: BELLWOOD RUN
7.7M KILMARNK-1.6M RTE201, Lancaster, VA
Built 1939 Load: 26.7 t ADT: 6,092
DEVIL BOTTOM RD.
GoodOver: BROWNS CREEK
1.3M RTE673-1.6M RTE604, Lancaster, VA
Built 2012 Load: 61.1 t ADT: 237
WINDMILL POINT RD.
PoorOver: OYSTER CREEK
5.5M RTE200-1.9M DEAD END, Lancaster, VA
Built 1930 Load: 18.9 t ADT: 585
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.